Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan,, Zanjan, Iran
2
aDepartment of Plant Production and Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran
3
Department of Soil Science, Faculty of agriculture, University of Tabriz, 51666-16471,Tabriz, Iran
4
Institute de Recherche en BiologieVe´ge´tale, De´partement de Sciences Biologiques, Universite´ de Montre´al
10.22124/cr.2024.27578.1823
Abstract
Introduction
Symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi mostly alleviates damage caused by stresses in host plant. Among abiotic stresses, salinity causes considerable loss in crop productivity. Comprehensive study of plant genotypes response to symbiosis with AM fungi and potential role of this connection in alleviating adverse effects of salinity would be effective in improving crop yield. The current study aimed to investigate response of barley to mycorrhizal colonization and salinity.
Materials and Methods
In this study six barley cultivars, including Khatam, Golshan, Afzal, Aras, Makoui and Dasht were evaluated at two salinity level (0 and 150m NaCl) and two symbiosis level (inoculated and non-inoculated with Funneliformis mosseae . A factorial design with 3 replications was conducted under greenhouse condition in Zanjan University. Five weeks after planting plants were harvested and colonization rate and fungal structures abundance were measured in roots. Also some physiological traits including shoot fresh weight, leaf relative water content (RWC), shoot Na+ concentration, K+ concentration were measured and Na+/K+ ratio was calculated.
Research Finding
Studied barley cultivars were different in respect of colonization rate and hypha, arbuscule and vesicle abundance. Salinity reduced cultivars colonization rate, hyphal and arbuscular abundance and increased vesicle abundance. Reduction in colonization level, and hypha and arbuscule abundance were more pronounced in salt-tolerant cultivars khatam and Afzal, particularly Afzal. Furthermore, increased vesicle frequency was significant in Makoui, Aras and Dasht. Salinity also reduced shoot fresh weight and leaf relative water content accompanied by increased Na+ concentration and Na+/K+ ratio. Observed changes in these traits were more evident in Aras. On the other hand, colonized plants exhibit lower shoot fresh weight and leaf RWC compared to non-colonized ones. However, under non-stress condition, symbiosis enhanced leaf RWC in Khatam and Golshan.
Conclusion
Based on studied traits, cultivars responded to symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus and also to salinity differently. Although reduced colonization rate might help barley to reduce consumption of its carbohydrates sources, but we didn’t observe expected results regarding barley growth improvement or mitigation of salinity effects as results of symbiosis. These results provide evidences for complexity of interaction between plants and AM fungi which environmental condition intensify this complexity.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)